Dancing in the Streets
by TheQueenofBooks1000
Summary: Just a rather short oneshot about Thalia, Luke, and an old radio. Past-fic, implied Thaluke (but mostly friendship).


**Hey, there. Decided to write a PJO story again. A Thaluke oneshot, for all of those who are fond of that pairing. The mood is somewhat light, so it isn't really much. But I do hope you enjoy it. :P**

**DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN PJO.**

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"Luke, what are you doing?"

The fourteen-year-old boy's eyes travelled to his raven-haired companion. "What does it look like I'm doing?" Luke Castellan countered nonchalantly. Brushing the blond hair from his eyes, his gaze returned to the task at hand. The 'task,' by the way, was a bright pink shoebox with a bunch of quarters and a few crumpled bills.

Thalia Grace frowned. "You look like you're having multiple spasms."

Luke _did _look bizarre. He was moving to the music of a beat-up radio blaring an old tune from the 80's. The demigod grinned, despite himself. "I'm street-dancing."

"Street-dancing?" The concept was foreign to the twelve-year-old girl. "What in Hades is that?"

Luke scoffed. "Thals, I thought that the name _kind of _explains itself. Street-dancing is when you dance in the street, duh."

"Well, excu-u-se me," Thalia shot back, rolling her eyes. "Why are you street-dancing, anyway?"

The son of Hermes sighed. "Must I explain everything?" Before he could continue, a balding old man glanced at the duo, snorted, and tossed money at the shoebox. Shaking his head, he walked away.

Luke stopped dancing. "Okay, I guess that will be all for today," he said. He leaned down to the box and shook out the money he earned. "Thirteen dollars," the demigod declared. He smiled the signature grin of a son of Hermes. "That's pretty good for a day's work, if I do say so myself."

"A day's work?" Thalia repeated. "You mean you've been doing that _all day?"_ The daughter of Zeus snickered. "Yeah, people paid for the _comedy _act."

"Very funny," Luke said, rolling his blue eyes. He glanced around. "By the way, where's Annabeth?"

Thalia looked behind her, realizing that the little blond girl wasn't with them anymore. "Good question. Annabeth?" she called out.

Almost immediately, the youngest of the trio strutted over to them. She gazed at them with her big gray eyes. "I just found a bunch of kids my age," she stated, almost matter-of-factly, like an adult giving a status report of the monthly sales pitch. "I'd like to play with them, if you guys will allow me."

Thalia frowned. "Annabeth, it's kind of—"

"Go for it." Luke's words sounded almost unfazed.

Thalia glanced at him sharply. "Luke—"

Luke smiled. "It'll be okay, Thals," he reassured her. Turning to Annabeth, he said, "You have your bronze knife, right?"

"Yup."

"A few drachmas, in case you need help?"

"Got it."

"Money?"

Annabeth patted her pocket, which was bulging with dollars. Luke blinked. "Annabeth, where did you get those?"

"Stole 'em," Annabeth said, looking proud of herself.

Luke leaned forward. "From where?"

The seven-year-old pointed at a nearby convenience store, looking almost proud of herself. They saw the owner of the store, looking distraught. His eyes briefly flickered to the trio, then turned away, as if dismissing the idea.

Luke shook his head. "Annabeth, it isn't really polite to steal things—"

"Isn't your father the god of thieves?" Annabeth deadpanned.

The sand-haired teenager glanced at Thalia, who was obviously stifling a laugh. Luke scowled and crossed his arms like a little kid, which Thalia thought looked pretty cute.

"Great job, Annabeth," Thalia said, patting the girl's shoulder. "Go on and have fun." The daughter of Athena nodded, shooting her older friends a rare smile. "And be careful!" Thalia called to her retreating figure.

Luke and Thalia were quiet for a moment. "She grew up too fast," Luke said, interrupting the silence.

"Yeah." Thalia's tone was soft. "She kinda did."

Luke smiled. "We sound like a young married couple."

Thalia pulled away, looking shocked. "What!"

Luke rolled his eyes, impishly grinning at his female friend. "You know, because it's like we have a kid, and she's all grown up." Luke shook his head mockingly, like a disappointed father from a TV show. "Pretty soon, she's gonna have boyfriends, piercings, five tattoos or so..."

"Stop that," Thalia snapped, trying to hide her the blush on her face, which was a result from his earlier statement. "Uh...Annabeth isn't that kind of girl."

Luke smirked. "Looking uneasy now, aren't we, Thals?"

"Just shut up." Thalia turned on his radio and began dancing.

Luke looked at her weirdly. "Thalia, what are you doing?"

"Trying to shut you up," Thalia said casually. She shot him a hard glare. "Business isn't done for the day, buddy. Get grooving."

"Yes, ma'am," Luke said, grinning. He grabbed Thalia's hands and twirled her around, until both of them got dizzy.

"Guys?" Annabeth's voice interrupted them. "What are you doing?"

Thalia and Luke immediately stopped dancing, and turned to face an army of seven-year-old kids. A boy whispered to his friend's ear, who giggled.

"Aww, we better stop, Thals. We're embarrassing our little girl," Luke said, sending a knowing wink to Thalia's general direction.

"You guys are her mommy and daddy?" A boy asked them curiously. "You look really young!"

"No, we are _not," _Thalia hissed, glaring daggers at Luke, who merely smirked.

"You don't look young?" a girl asked curiously. "But, you do!"

"No!" Thalia snapped, almost losing it. "I mean, we are _not _her parents!"

"But they may as well be," Annabeth said to the kids. "And, if you guys don't mind, I'd like to spend time with them now."

Luke still appeared amused. "You mean we aren't embarrassing you?"

"On the contrary," Annabeth said, leaving the other children to look confused (What kind of seven-year-old says that? Well, she _was _a daughter of Athena). The little blond girl leaned down to the radio, turned the volume up, and to Luke and Thalia's surprise, little Annabeth began dancing. She looked rather happy, so unlike her usual serious attitude.

Luke and Thalia joined in, dancing with Annabeth to the scratchy tunes of _Dancing Queen. _Pretty soon, the kids left them alone, probably to go home.

Thalia closed her eyes and smiled, trying to envision the three of them as a family. It wasn't difficult, since they actually considered themselves as family, having no one else to turn to.

But starting a family with Luke, with a child as sweet as Annabeth?

Well, that hopeful thought almost made her forget about her hellish life of being chased by mythological creatures from Tartarus.

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**Now, wasn't that sweet? *silence* Well, fine, be that way. :P Please review and tell me if y'all liked it! :D**


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